“In Search of Lost Time”: I review an art show

at the Hirshhorn:

I got the idea for how to start this review when I was supposed to be praying.

I try to “do” ten minutes a day of contemplative prayer, kneeling and opening my mind and heart to whatever God wants to say to me: shedding my own opinions and judgments, turning away from all screens and distractions. It turns out to be a great way to get ideas for my writing. Not such a great way to surrender to silence and inner peace. The distractions are coming from inside the house!

“Days of Endless Time,” at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, DC, through April 6, is an exhibit for our age of bite-sized meditation and distractions on tap. There are only 14 pieces in the show, but all of them require not only our attention but our time. In an ordinary exhibit of paintings or sculptures the viewer controls her time, giving each work the amount she feels it deserves—or the amount of time she can stand to lose with it. In “Days,” each video (and one real-life moving display) takes a certain amount of time to complete, and in order to experience it fully, the viewer needs to give it the time demanded by the artist. The museum is explicit about its purpose: to force us into a more mindful, less efficient experience of art and time.

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